Dispensing apparatus



Oct. 17, 1961 H. SHIVEK 3,004,813

DISPENSING APPARATUS Filed Sept. 26, 1957 lo a} INVENTOR.

United States Patent Lift Corporation, Boston, Mass., a corporation of Mas sachusetts Filed Sept. 26, 1957, Ser- No. 686,449 7 Claims. (Cl. 312-71) invention comprises a new and improved device for dispensing plates, saucers or other articles at a constant level.

Devices of this kind include a spring designed to counterbalance the combined weight of the articles and to maintain the uppermost article of a stack at a predetermined level. A serviceable dispensing device must be provided with means for adjusting the effective force of this spring in order to adapt the dispenser to handle articles of difierent weight or to vary the dispensing level. Heretofore such adjusting means have been so inconveniently located as to require the device to be unloaded, partially dismantled, or even inverted in order to reach the adjusting means.

object of the present invention is to provide a dispenser havlng an upright tubular housing and adjustmg means accessible from the open top of the housing so that any desired adjustment of the spring action can be made quickly and conveniently, while the housing stands in its normal upright position.

These 'and other features of the invention will be more readily understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof as shown in the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional elevation, and

FIG. 2 is a sectional elevation showing a modified form of construction.

The dispensing apparatus is herein shown as having a tubular housing 10 with a rounded flange 12 fixed to its upper end. This flange 12 serves as a barrier to prevent crumbs and other debris from being wiped into the unit as well as to support the unit when suspended through an opening formed in a conventional counter.

A spring 14 of conventional design is mounted inside of the tubular housing 10 and is supported at its lower end by a circular spring-supporting plate 16 permanently secured in the housing 10 and closing its bottom. At the upper end the spring 14 supports an axially movable spring adjusting plate 18 having a down turned marginal flange and a central bore. The plate 18 is centrally apertured and has a nut 20 welded to its lower face below and in line with its aperture.

An upwardly extending bolt 22 is threaded at its lower end into the nut 20. The upper unthreaded portion of the bolt is rotatably received in a bushing 24 welded to the under face of the carrier member. This comprises a circular plate 26 having a down turned marginal flange or skirt and a central aperture in line with the bushing 24. The plate also has a recess or countersink in which is rotatably seated the head of the bolt 22 in flush relation to the surface of the plate. A chain 28 is connected through a swivel clip to the lower end of the bolt 22 and to the bottom plate 16. The length of the chain is such as to determine the limit of upward movement of the carrier plate 26 while permitting it to descend under a full load of plates or the like.

In the modified form of the invention shown in FIG. 2 the housing, bottom plate, spring and chain may be assumed to be identical to the corresponding elements already described. The bolt 34 is threaded into a nut 32 welded to the bottom face of a spring adjusting plate 30 having apertures or perforations 31 arranged in a concentric circle. The head of the bolt 34 is welded to the under side of a supporting disk 36 and the disk is also 3,004,813 Patented Oct. 17, 1961 "ice provided with an eccentric aperture aligned with the apertures 31 of the spring adjusting plate 30. The carrier member comprises a circular plate 40 having a down turned skirt. It is. arranged to rest flatly upon the supporting disk 36 but is free to be lifted off this disk at any time so as to expose the underlying supporting disk 36. A downwardly projecting pin or post 38 is welded to the under face of the carrier plate 40. This pin is substantially the same length as the bolt 34 and is adapted to pass through any one of the registering perforations of the spring adjusting plate 30. Accordingly, when'the carrier plate 40 is lifted and removed with the pin 38 the supporting disk 36 serves as convenient and readily accessible means for rotating the bolt 34 to varythe distance between the spring adjusting plate 30 and the carrier plate 40. When the adjustment has been made the carrier plate is returned to its position with the pin 38 locking the bolt against rotation of the nut 32, that is to say, the bolt 34 and the nut 32' are locked against relative rotation.

In both instances it will be seen that any desired adjustment in the effective force of the spring 14 may be made conveniently from the upperend of the dispensing device without in any way disarranging the elements enclosed within the housing 10. i p

Having thus disclosed my invention and described in detail a preferred embodiment thereof, Iclaim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent: a r

1. Dispensing apparatus comprising, in combination, a tubular housing, a spring and a stationary spring-supporting plate mounted at the bottom of said housing, a dishware carrier movable in the upper portion of said housing and having a central bore and a guiding bushing, an axially movable spring adjusting plate having a screwreceiving nut and being mounted at the upper end of said spring, a vertical screw having an unthreaded portion at its upper end which is received within said central bore and guiding bushing of said carrier, a lower threaded portion engaged with the screw-receiving nut of the spring adjusting plate and a head rotatably supported by the carrier, whereby manual rotation of said vertical screw causes the axial movement of said spring adjusting plate toward or from the carrier.

2. Dispensing apparatus comprising, in combination, a housing, a spring and a spring supporting plate mounted at the bottom of said housing, a carrier member movable in the upper portion of said housing and having an attached eccentrically mounted post, a vertical screw having a flange at its upper end, a supporting plate underlying said carrier member, and having an eccentrical hole to receive said post and being secured to the flange of said vertical screw, a spring adjusting plate having a screwreceiving nut at its center and a plurality of holes concentrically arranged about said nut to receive said post of the carrier member, said spring adjusting plate being mounted at the upper end of said spring, whereby, after removal of said carrier member with its attached eccentrically mounted post, the rotation of the supporting plate will cause axial displacement of the spring adjusting plate bringing it closer to or further from said supporting plate.

3. A tubular dispenser comprising an upright tubular housing containing a compressible spring supporting a circular perforated plate, a nut secured to the plate, a vertical screw threaded into the nut and fast at its upper end to a circular disk, a circular carrier plate resting freely on said disk and being removable to expose the latter, and a post extending downwardly from the carrier plate through said circular disk and engaging with said perforated plate.

4. Dispensing apparatus comprising, in combination, a tubular housing, a spring and a stationary spring-supporting plate mounted at the bottom of said housing, a dishwere carr r mo able in the upp P n of aid h ing and having a central aperture, an axially movable spring adjusting plate having a screw-receiving threaded lement and being mounted at the upper nd of. said spring, a ver ical screw having an unthreaded portion at its upper end which is received within said central per ure and having means for hol ing s id screw again t axial displacement in reference to the carrier, said screw having a lower threaded Portion engaged with the screwreceivi g element of the p g adj p eby manual rotation of said vertical screw causes the axial movement of said spring. adjusting plate toward or from thecarrier; g I t 5. Dispensing apparatus, comprising, in combination, a tubular housing, a. spring nd a s a ionary p gu porting plat mounted at he ot om of said housing, a dishware carrier movable in the upper portion of said housing and having a central ap ture, n axially movable plate di posed etween aid c ier d s d p i having a screw-receiving threaded lement and bei mouatedat the upper end of said spring, a vertical screw having an unthread d port n at its upp en Whieh i received within said central aperture and havingrneans for holding aid screw against axial displacement in reference to the carrier, said screw having a lower threaded portion engaged with the screw-receiving element of said plate, where vmanuai rotati n of said vertical screw causes the axial movement of said plate toward .or from the carrier... t

Dispensing apparat s comprising an upright, open top tubular housing containing a carrier plate movable in its upper pert-ion and a spring in its lower portio a I 4 adjusting plate mounted at the upper end of said spring and near the upper end of the housing, a fixed springsupporting plate closing the bottom of the housing, and a screw operatively connected in supporting relation to the carrier plate and accessible from within the open top of the upright housing, the screw being also operatively connected to the adjusting plate for varying the distance between said carrier plate and said adjusting plate.

7. A dispenser comprising an upright, open-top housing having a movable carrier plate at its upper end, a fixed bottom plate at its lower end and an intermediate adjusting plate, a spring resting on the fixed bottom plate and supporting said adjusting plate, a limit chain connested t0 saidbottom plate and said adjusting plate for determining the distance between the adjusting plate and the fixed bottom plate, and screw means operatively connected at its upper end in supporting relation to said carrier plate and operatively connected at its lower end to said adjusting plate and accessible from the open top of the upright housing for adjusting the distance between the carrier plate and the adjusting plate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 582,864 Layman May 18, 1897 1,333,993 Oliver Mar. 16, 1920 2,226,308 Gibbs Dec. 24, 1940 2,597,332 Janos May 20, 1952 2,609,265 Larsen Sept. 2, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 416,199 Italy Nov. 20, 1946 

